Th1Th17 Lymphocyte Subpopulation as a Predictive Biomarker of Disease Activity in Multiple Sclerosis Patients under Dimethyl Fumarate or Fingolimod Treatment.

Peripheral blood biomarkers able to predict disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients have not been identified yet. Here, we analyzed the immune phenotype of T lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood samples from 66 RRMS patients under DMF ( = 22) or fingolimod ( = 44) treatment, by flow cytometry. A correlation study between the percentage and absolute cell number of each lymphocyte subpopulation with the presence of relapses or new MRI lesions during 12-month follow-up was performed.

Predicting therapeutic response to fingolimod treatment in multiple sclerosis patients.

Aims: Fingolimod, an orally active immunomodulatory drug for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), sequesters T cells in lymph nodes through functional antagonism of the sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor, reducing the number of potential autoreactive cells that migrate to the central nervous system. However, not all RRMS patients respond to this therapy. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that by immune-monitoring RRMS patient's leukocyte subpopulations it is possible to find biomarkers associated with clinical response to fingolimod.

Monitoring CD49d Receptor Occupancy: A Method to Optimize and Personalize Natalizumab Therapy in Multiple Sclerosis Patients.

Background: In natalizumab-treated relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients, various extended interval dosing strategies are under evaluation to minimize severe treatment-associated side effects, mainly progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy development. Up to now, it has not been presented any approach, even in form of assay design, to determine the optimal percentage of CD49d receptor occupancy (RO) associated with a favorable clinical, radiological, and immunological response.

Methods: A multiparametric quantitative flow cytometry method was settled to measure CD49d RO on peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Multiple Intracranial Arteriovenous Fistulas in Cowden Syndrome.

Cowden syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disease. It is characterized by multiple noncancerous tumorlike growths called hamartomas, which typically are found in the skin, oral mucosa, thyroid, breast, and gastrointestinal tract. It carries with it a potential risk of malignant transformation, especially of the breast and thyroid.

[Encephalopathy and neuromyelitis optica: the importance of recognising atypical symptoms].

Introduction: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), or Devic's disease, is an autoimmune, inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system which mainly and characteristically involves the optic nerve and the spinal cord. Anti-aquaporin-4 (AQ-4) antibodies are a specific biomarker of the entity and, since their discovery, both the number of symptoms and the radiological data about the disease have progressively increased, and the concept of clinical spectrum of NMO has been defined.

Case Report: A 66-year-old female diagnosed with NMO after suffering attacks of optic neuritis and recurrent myelitis, and showing positive for AQ-4 antibodies.

[Ingestion of anabolic steroids and ischaemic stroke. A clinical case report and review of the literature].

INTRODUCTION. Anabolic-androgenic steroids are synthetic substances derived from testosterone that are employed for their trophic effect on muscle tissue, among other uses. Their consumption can give trigger a series of adverse side effects on the body, including the suppression of the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axis as well as liver, psychiatric and cardiovascular disorders.